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All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

Posted on 29 November 2012 by John Hartz

This is the fifth edition of a biweekly roundup of selected news articles and blog posts about climate change and its impacts. Readers are encouraged to comment on the posted articles and to provide links to other articles of importance.

Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon has been viewed for ages as a vast quilt of rain forest interspersed by remote river outposts. But the surging population growth of cities in the jungle is turning that rural vision on its head and alarming scientists, as an array of new industrial projects transforms the Amazon into Brazil’s fastest-growing region.

Cop 18: Africa's Perspective

African Civil Society Organisations are calling on developed countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to keep Africa safe from the impact of global warming and climate change.

Cop 18: Multiple Challenges

As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas-rich Qatar for annual talks starting Monday on slowing global warming, one of the main challenges will be raising climate aid for poor countries at a time when budgets are strained by financial turmoil.

Cop 18: Opening Day

Anticipating an onslaught of criticism from poor nations, the United States claimed "enormous" strides in reducing greenhouse emissions at the opening of U.N. climate talks Monday, despite failing to join other industrialized nations in committing to binding cuts.

Impact of Melting Permafrost

Scientists who study the Arctic say they’re worried that nations meeting this week to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions aren’t adequately considering how much carbon dioxide and methane could be released from the world’s rapidly thawing permafrost.

Politics: Canada

The government of Canada's official position on climate change is that it's real and requires an "aggressive" response.Despite that, Canada's ruling Conservative Party government has been leading a slow and systematic unraveling of environmental and climate research budgets, according to local scientists—including shuttering one of the world's top Arctic research stations for monitoring global warming. Hundreds of researchers have lost their jobs, and those that remain are forbidden from talking to media without a government minder.

Rising Seas

Now we are in a new warming phase, and the oceans are rising again after thousands of years of stability. As scientists who study sea level change and storm surge, we fear that Hurricane Sandy gave only a modest preview of the dangers to come, as we continue to power our global economy by burning fuels that pollute the air with heat-trapping gases.

Comments

It's good to see that at least some sections of the mass media are willing to print articles supportive of AGW. Are any of the above-listed news organs owned by Rupert Murdoch? I'm pretty sure the NYT is not, which must annoy the old boy.

The New York Times article raises a point that had not occurred to me: "Barriers that might work in Manhattan would be futile in South Florida, where water would pass underneath them by pushing through porous bedrock". Now, there's a pretty thought! I wonder where else the same would apply? There must be plenty of locations where infiltration through basement structures would happen. That makes the idea of just adapting to the future climate a tad less attractive. Goodbye, South Florida and thank you for playing the adaptation game.